This is not a fancy slice. Or a tricky one. It doesn't photograph particularly well and looks much the same on your friend's beaten up old chopping board as on a pretty plate. 

Because this one is not about appearances. 

It's the go-to. The old-school. The one your eyes follow if someone carries it into morning tea. The one that sells out first at the fete.

I'm sure you've made it before, you probably even have the recipe handwritten in an exercise book in your fourteen-year-old handwriting. 

If you ever lose that book, you know you can come back here and find it.

(Better still, commit it to memory. Really. A slice like this is important, I'm sure you'll agree.)

 

 

 

 

I'm sharing my Mum's kitchen at the moment, which means I might at any time stumble across heirlooms like this: the tin I cooked my very first slice in. 

It's so beaten up, it's made so many countless slices, it's so awesome. 

I made a grave error of timing with this one though: it was not at all set when I needed to leave to take it to a friend's place.

 

 

 

I covered it with foil and put it on the passenger's seat and it still wasn't set when I arrived a full four minutes later. Darnit.

 

 

 

I stuck it in her freezer and pulled it out forty-five minutes and two cups of tea and about sixteen serious belly laughs later.

Did not look so pretty.

 

 

 

But really, as I said at the beginning, no one cares what this one looks like. It's chocolate caramel slice, a happy-dance in a mouthful.

Choc Caramel Slice

Base:

1 cup plain flour

Half cup coconut

Half cup brown sugar

125g butter, melted

Method:

Melt the butter and stir in all the other base ingredients. Press into a slice tin (approx 18 x 28cm) and bake for 15 mins on 180deg C.

Caramel:

1 tin condensed milk

60g butter

2 tbsp golden syrup

Method:

Stir all caramel ingredients together in a saucepan over a low heat until butter is melted and ingredients are amalgamated. Keep stirring for about 6 minutes or until the caramel changes colour to golden. Pour/spread over base and bake for 8 minutes on 180deg C.

When the caramel had cooked and cooled slightly, spread with a melted 200g block of milk or dark chocolate. Allow at least 2 hours to set in the fridge, but heck, the freezer for 45 mins worked for me. 

Best shared with girls you adore if at all possible.

 

 

 

xxx